April 28, Russell instructed Bruce to express at Washington that "the Government, the Parliament, and the Nation are affected by a unanimous feeling of abhorrence of the criminals guilty of these cowardly and atrocious crimes, and sympathy for the Government and People of the United States[1298]...." Russell wrote here of both Lincoln and Seward.

The Queen wrote a personal letter of sympathy to Mrs.Lincoln.Already Bruce had written from Washington that Lincoln "was the only friend of the South in his party[1299]," and he was extremely anxious that Seward's recovery might be hastened, fearing the possibility of Sumner's assumption of the Secretaryship of State.

"We miss terribly the comparative moderation of Lincoln and Seward[1300]." [Illustration: BRITANNIA SYMPATHISES WITH COLUMBIA.

_Reproduced by permission of the Proprietors of "Punch"_] The American Minister naturally became the centre toward which the public outpouring of sympathy was directed.

"The excitement in this country has been deep and wide, spreading through all classes of society.